Confederate flag emblem stays on redesigned Georgia license plate

The Confederate battle flag is staying on a redesigned Georgia license plate in a deal reached with state officials.

The Georgia Department of Revenue and the George chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans struck an agreement on the redesign that could be available as early as next week, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported Thursday.

The redesigned license plate eliminates the faded Confederate emblem in the background. It retains a small “blood red” version of the emblem in the foreground, the paper said.

Gov. Nathan Deal ordered a redesign of the license plate in June after the shooting of nine black worshippers at a South Carolina church by a suspect that police have identified as a white supremacist.

He stopped short of calling for the Sons of Confederate Veterans tags to be phased out entirely as has been ordered in North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.

“We did agree to remove the faded backgrounds as most of the Camps indicated that they would be willing to do as long as the SCV logo was in its place of prominence on the tag,” Tim Pilgrim, a Sons of Confederate Veterans leader, said, according to the paper.